1

Ronnie V. Amorado, Ph.DEhem National Coordinator

From conventional ethnography to undercover ethnographycombines ethnography with undercover techniques on feigning deco ys (disguise as fixer or principal) and intelligence collection.

Key Informants Interviews (KIIs) and decoy conversations

Limited institutional immersion and Non-Participant Observation

Accidental non-probability and snowballing sampling techniques

Emic respondents and etic respondents

Basic P-O-E-T techniques: participation, observation, elicitation and triangulation or (validation)

Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)

Idiographic analysis versus nomothetic abstraction (learning from particular experiences; no attempt at gen eralization)

Hermeneutics and semiotics of fixing: words, symbols and metaphors

Coverage of study: selected NGAs/LGUs in various parts of the Philippines

Period of study: late-2002 to mid-2005

Anti-Fixing Research | Notes on Methodology

Exploratory, highly descriptive and non-probabilistic research

Finding FixersChapter 1: Fixing in frontline agencies

Encounter 1: The journey begins Encounter 2: Tales from the gate

Chapter 2: Fixing in the military, business and media

Encounter 3: Fixing in the forceEncounter 4: The pen is mightier in fixing

Chapter 3: Fixing in local government unitsEncounter 5: Fixing from belowEncounter 6: From fixing to whistleblowing

Chapter 4: Fixing in the judiciary and welfare institutions

Encounter 7: Snatch and fixEncounter 8: Fix and claimEncounter 9: Behind bars

Synthesis

Analyzing Fixing

Chapter 5: The structure of fixingWhat is fixing? Who are the fixers?Fixing as a modus operandi of corruption From facilitation to falsification:fixing as a surreptitiously motivated behavior Motivational structure of fixing Elements and types of fixing Network structure and shifting roles of fixers Fixers as networks and networks of fixers

Chapter 6: The capital of fixersSocial capital and corruptionSocial capital prevents corruptionSocial capital promotes corruptionDark side of social capital in fixingCultural dimensionPhilosophical and moral divergence

Analyzing FixingChapter 7: Fixing the problem of fixing

Paradigm shiftsVertical reformsHorizontal transformationResearch agenda

Practical Tips

Dictionary of Fixing

Postscript on Methodology

Major Laws and Executive Fiats on Anti-Fixing

Practical TipsFor the transacting public

For government officials and employees

For fixers who want to stop fixing or become whistleblowers

For law enforcers

For anticorruption groups

For donor agencies

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Aberya

All-in

Ambon

Apprentice

Areglo

Backer

Bahaw

Butas

Barya-barya lang

Big time

BriberyBumbero Bulsa-bulsa lang

Buwaya

Cabinet action

Chinatown

Chocolate Boys

Colorum

Decking

Diskarte

Doctor

Dummy

Flying Squad

Fixcal

Hush-hush

Ikaw na bahalaKobra

BIR

Kuot/Dukot

Lagay

Martial Law

Misdec Neto

Ninoy

No show

Off-season

OsmeñaPait

ParmasyaPatong

Payola Pikoy

Presidente/Abogado

Proxy

RA 1530

Red tape

Show money

Small time

Snack moneyStencil Boys

Stringer

Suki

Sunog

Table inspection

Tip

S.O.P

Violet

VIP

VIP Card

Under the table

Tong

Maninigbas

Tagaloob

Split

ShoppingRunner

Retention

Retainer

Rebate

Quota System

Pyansador

Pro bono

Payroll

Patakbuhin ang papel

Padrino

Multa

Moonlighting

Hilot

Manok

Luto na

Dictionary of FixingKotong

DTR

Broker

Cut

Tito-Vic-JoeyAsul/BluePula/Red

Berde/Green

Quezon

Roxas

Dictionary of Fixing (nonverbal cues, codes and sign language)

Conventional Kotong (extortion)

Dictionary of Fixing (nonverbal cues, codes and sign language)

Dr. Ledevina V. CariñoBureaucratic Corruption in Asia:

Causes, Consequences and Controls (1986)

The book… has something for everyone. It provokes interest on the hazy world of fixing… and inspire participation in… scholarly and crusading pursuits.

For academics and theorists, it dissects the relationship of corruption and social capital… [and] follows the latter to its dark side.

[For] theologians and students of ethics… [the book] delves into moral philosophy and applies deontology and teleology to the society of fixers.

[For researchers], a number of methods advance the understanding and practice of qualitative research [applied] on corruption and fixing: undercover ethnography, decoy conversation, key informants, focus group discussions and institutional immersion.

Tambara: Ateneo de Davao University JournalVolume 24 | ISSN 0117-6323 | November 2007

“ “This whole mechanism of fixing is so well organized and well oiled,

it can rival the most efficient government agency to date.

What is fixing? Why do people fix, and why do people avail of the services of fixers? More importantly, how do fixers view fixing?

How does one become a fixer? What are some of thediscernible patterns in terms of psychographic anddemographic profiles of fixers, their methodologies andstrategies, tools and techniques, ethics and ideology?

How do fixers sustain and nurture their influence in thegovernment bureaucracy? What are their connections,associations and networks in various bureaucratic systems in government?

What damage can fixing do to the government bureaucracy and to the society at large? What can be done to address the causes of fixing and mitigate its consequences?

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Develop a systematic theoretical and practical understanding of fixing in the Philippines by describing and looking into the social capital and informal networks of fixers;

Explore and analyze the unique experiences of fixers and other stakeholders in fixing, their modus operandi, categories of meanings, symbols and techniques;

Find out and analyze discernible patterns from these experiences, meanings, symbols and techniques; and

Generate appropriate policy recommendations and institutional interventions based on the experiences and strategies of fixers. These are aimed to propose more effective and efficient bureaucratic systems that are more prone to corruption and fixing.

Learn from fixers on how to address fixing and combat bureaucratic corruption!

What is the situation?

Fixing has provided alternative routes for people to gain access to government transactions and to seek various public documents from certificates, licenses, permits, titles, clearances, concessions, claims and benefits to passports and visas among others.

Cuenco (2001):

Almost all documents issued by the Philippine bureaucracy have been falsified: birth, death, wedding and baptismal certificates; permit to carry firearms; driver’s license; financial documents such as checks and vouchers; land titles; and many others of an infinite variety.

Santiago 1991:72:

The Philippines is notoriously reputed as one of the “world capi tals for fake travel documents.”

Santiago 1991:108:

Incessant reports of fixing and faking

Forgery and falsification of documents; bouncing checks; sham receiptsFake ages; fake visas and travel documentsFake shampoos, colognes, powder, make up and lotionsFaked degree and fake budget officerFake land titles; fake eviction orders Fraudulent health claims and bloated confinementsFake college diplomas and academic credentialsCounterfeit and fake bills of 100, 200 and 500 in public markets and taxisFake death certificates and faked death claims sold at P15 eachFake pre-paid phone cardsFake jeans, fake t-shirts and fake rubber shoesFake coffee and fake bath soaps; fake liver spreadFake local ordinance and resolutionFake medicines; fake surgical proceduresFake government inspectors and fake professionalsFake car parts and fake electrical productsDoctored Civil Service examination sold at P5,000 eachFake appointment papers for president of SUC

Cañedo (1995:90-93):

Fixing and bureaucratic corruption as bureaucratic dysfunction

Bureaucratic comaThe terminal stage is bureaucratic coma where the organization, for practical purposes, is clinically dead due to wanton failure and incapacity of the bureaucratic organization.

Bureaucratic indulitis Bureaucratic palsied paralysis, a pathologic self-induced infectious and malignant bureaucratic disease that occurs as a result of a chemical reaction when a high concentration of incompetence combines with dullness, which in turn is a result of a dormant disease called indolence.

Cañedo (1995:90-93):

Bureaucratic indulitis

“Injecol” (inject with small reforms)“Bornagin” (spiritual and ethical programs)

Bureaucratic coma

“Surgeonol” (more drastic reforms)“Exterminol” (exterminate the organization)

Symbolic prescriptions

Fixing and bureaucratic corruption as bureaucratic dysfunction

What is fixing?

Middle English concept from the Latin word fixus which means a sense of tamper with a fight or jury.

First usage was recorded in 1790.

It evolved as an intrinsically corrupt behavior associated with deliberate and malicious tampering, altering, meddling, influencing, rigging and manipulating.

Etymological origin:

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Encyclopedia definitions

Reader’s Digest (1975); Webster (1983); American Heritage (1993); Online Dictionary (2004); Cambridge Advanced Dictionary (2004); Bartleby (2004); Free Dictionary (2004)

What is fixing?

Fixing is any transaction, intervention or instance by someone with or connected to an authority for a person in trouble, usually using underhand or illegal methods for a fee.

The intervention or transaction is aimed at arranging a special consideration, such as an exemption, or an illegal outcome, especially by means of bribery.

Fixing is a dishonest activity to make certain that a competition, race or election is won by a particular person or a political party.

To fix is to prearrange or influence the decisions, actions, outcome or effects by improper or illegal means, normally through bribery or collusion.

An act or practice of obtaining special privileges, favors or immunity from the law or of exerting improper or illegal influence on the outcome of something.

A fix is an exemption or favor after an influence or payment is made or brought to bear.

Fixing is a symptom of bureaucratic corruption. Fixing also reinforces bureaucratic corruption.

Fixing and red tape have close family ties!

Red tape was introduced in literature by Charles Dickens and popularized by Thomas Carlyle. Its origin can be traced back to the practice of arranging and tying official documents with red ribbons before working on them by government officials in England in the 17th century. Since then, especially during the start of the 19th

century, the concept of red ribbon (or red tape) has become the symbol of official delays, government delays, bureaucratic layers, bureaucratic sluggishness

and bureaucratic corruption.

Where red tapes abound, fixers thrive!Where red tapes abound, fixers thrive!

Network structure and shifting roles of fixers

Two types of fixers

They persist because they get protection from the insider fixers. They are external nodes in the network of fixing.

Insider fixers serve as the hubs or the main spokes or central operating structure in the network of fixing.

They persist because of the ‘cuts’ or ‘commissions’ from the direct fixing transactions, as well as from the remittances of the professional fixers.

Outsider fixers or professional fixers

Insider fixers or sideline fixers.

Boundary networks of fixers

Network structure and shifting roles of fixers

Public OfficialsGovernment Employees

Fixers

ClientsCustomersPrincipals

Conventional model

Public OfficialsGovernment Employees

ClientsCustomersPrincipals

Emerging model

Fixers

Fixers’ networks and networks of fixers

Basic elements

Boissevain (1974); Nardi et al (2000); Waldstrom (2001); Krebs (2004)

Nodes and links are the basic elements of networks

Prell (2002)Nodes are the actors

Waldstrom (2004)Nodes are the egos or units

Mitchell (1969)Links are the nets

Nodes are the individuals who are members of a network; links are the relationships or

connections between and among nodes.

Node

Node

Node

Node

Node

Link

Net

Fixers’ networks and networks of fixers

Other elements

(Prell 2002)Dyads, Triads, Sub-groups and Groups

(Stephenson 1998)Hubs, Gatekeepers and Pulse-takers

(Allen 1976)Bridges, Liaisons, Stars and Isolates

(Nardi et al 2000)Knots, Subnets and Core Groups

(Krebs 2004)Spokes

(Boissevain 1974)Coalitions, Cliques and Factions

(Barnes in Mitchell 1969)Clusters

These network elements are comparable in terms of their converging and diverging features.

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Fixers’ networks and networks of fixers

Power of networks

• Betweennes• Closeness

• Strength• Reciprocity• Symmetricality• Multiplexity• Appropriateness

of behavior

• Strong ties• Weak ties

Morphological power

• Anchorage• Density• Reachability• Range

Interactional power

• Content• Directedness• Durability• Intensity• Frequency

Krebs(2004)

Waldstrom(2001)

Granovetter(1973; 1978)

Mitchel(1969)

3 ways to understand networks (Monge and Eisenberg 1987)

Positional (roles and positions)Cultural (norms and interactions)Relational (relationships)

Motivational structure of fixing

Continuum of fixing activities:Why people go to fixers

Expedite transactions

Falsify documents

Simple Facilitation Random Fixing Systematic Fixing

Motivational structure of fixing

Fixing is not static. It operates on a continuum that involves the basic components of facilitation and falsification.

The level and rate of these components increase depending on the extent of fixing and the forms involved in the process.

Expedite transactions

Falsify documents

Simple Facilitation Random Fixing Systematic Fixing

Continuum of fixing activities:Why people go to fixers

Expedite transactions

Falsify documents

Simple Facilitation Random Fixing Systematic Fixing

Tools of the trade: connections and pecuniary/non-pecuniary tariffs

low density networksless organized connections and random “tips”

high density networksmore organized connections and regular “commissions”

Network structure and shifting roles of fixers

Continuum of fixing activities:Why people go to fixers

Expedite transactions

Falsify documents

Sideline and insider fixers:Government officials and employees

Full time professional fixers:private individuals and outsiders

FacilitatorAgentSpokesman

BrokerInfluence-PeddlerTroubleshooterBumberoDoctor

BagmanExtortionistSwindler

Simple Facilitation Random Fixing Systematic Fixing

Network structure and shifting roles of fixers

Continuum of fixing activities:Why people go to fixers

Expedite transactions

Falsify documents

Sideline and insider fixers:Government officials and employees

Full time professional fixers:private individuals and outsiders

Permit FixingRecords Fixing Identity Fixing

News Fixing/News Twisting

Case FixingClaims Fixing

Price FixingGame Fixing/Sports- match Fixing

Simple Facilitation Random Fixing Systematic Fixing

Types of fixing and shifting roles of fixers

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Corruption is both an act of individuals and a work of society.

We have to understand how individuals formand transform society, as well as how societyshapes the actions of individuals.

One approach is through the understanding of “social capital” – the people’s connections.

Connections are the building blocks of networks.

The book looks deeper into the networks of fixers through the dark side of social capital.

3 Types of capital (Lin 2001; Milani 2003; Warren 2004)

Physical capital includes wealth, assets and investments in productive physical things such as lands, machinery, equipment, tools and instruments. Also stock of assets through physical and economic capital.

Human capital refers to investments in productive capacities of the self such as education and health. Also stock of skills (competencies, credentials, etc).

Social capital is the accumulated value of people by virtue of their networks and connections with other people. It is productive investment in social relations with expected returns; it is a social asset by virtue of people’s connections and access to resources in the network of groups of which they are members. It is also the stock of relationships and values.

What people have!

Who people

are!

Who people know!

Bjornskov (2004); Uslaner(2001); Bjornskov and Svendsen (2003)

social capital prevents corruption!Because of the social capital elements of trust and honesty in society, social capital is treated as a tool to combat corruption since it promotes and reinforces honesty and trust among people.

In fact, corruption destroys social capital because of reverse causality!

In reverse causality, people tend to lose trust and honesty, thereby destroying social capital, if they see corruption as an effective means to an end.

But social capital also promotes and reinforces corruption!There is a different kind of social capital that emerges in corruption.

In fact, there is social capital between and among the actors and networks in corruption.

It is precisely this social capital that binds and holds corrupt people together in order to carry on their corrupt acts and practices.

““It would not be enough to find social capital and expect good things to follow. As not all push for the public good, and since “governance” is not necessarily “good” or “effective,” so we now find that the dense networks of relationships of trust and solidarity –a standard definition of social capital – may support not only public trust but also its betrayals.

Dr. LedevinaV. Cariño in Foreword

It is not always that social capital is a herald of socially desirable outcomes. It is also a shrewd harbinger of shady and shadowy networks that are not beneficial to the society in general.

Social capital can also have negative effects, specifically through the development of strong cliques and “old boys’ networks” which can also embed social distortion, inequalities and injustice.

Underground networks and dark side of social capital

Warren (2004)

Social goodproduces democracy, education, prosperity and economic development, family cohesion, civil society, good government and people’s empowerment.

Social bad brings about terrorism, organized crime, kidnapping, cartels, corruption and syndicates.

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Cultural breeders that reinforce fixing

Culture of expediency: cannot wait and fall in line

Eleventh-hour culture:pay on deadline

Rent-seeking culture:earn on the side

Culture of personalism: personal accommodation

Culture of predilection towards networks and connections

Culture of mediocrity:cannot learn, do not readdo not follow instructions

Culture of reciprocity:give and take,payback timeFixing

Externalization of Internal and External Actors

Proliferation of Stationary Banditry

Widespread Reverse Causality

Cultural Damage

Major Laws and Executive Fiats on Anti-FixingRepublic Act 9485Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007

Memorandum Circular No. 35 s. 2003/Office of the PresidentPublication of Service Guides and Posting of Work Flowcharts in All Government Agencies and Public Offices

Memorandum Circular No.120 s. 2003/DILGAnti-Red Tape Program for Local Governments

Memorandum Circular No.148 s. 2004/Office of the PresidentProhibiting Fixers in Malacañang Premises

Other applicable provisions: Revised Penal Code of the Philippines/Act No. 3815Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act/RA 3019Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards/RA 6713Government Support Programs: Ombudsman’s Public Assistance Program; CSC’s PASADA and Mamamayan Muna Programs

Major Laws and Executive Fiats on Anti-Fixing

Republic Act 9485Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007declares fixing as a grave punishable offense

mandates for limiting up to 5 signatories only in any document

production of citizens’ charters in government offices

conduct of report card surveys

establishment of complaints’ desks

This book is about fixers, but in the final analysis, it is really about fixing the problems that make our society

vulnerable to fixing!